10.29.2012

I SPOT the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o'-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.

10.18.2012

this past weekend was a wedding of friends.
being a couple that love the mountains, they of course wanted to marry with the mountains all around them. so we all traveled up to an old forest service cabin.

it was cold enough that we needed to wear our long underwear.
and we, including the bride, were wearing boots instead of fancy shoes.

a few of us arrived early. to start a warm fire near the old cabin, and set up the chairs in a field surrounded by yellowing aspens and perennially green trees.

one of my new favorite photos. d in his tweed, doing the duty of groomsmen. cutting down aspen boughs in which to decorate the chuppah. the groom had built it with fallen aspen trees. and his friends covered it in a canopy of white branches & yellow leaves.

the chuppah became almost invisible in the landscape.

little snowflakes began to fall just before the ceremony. a beautiful representation of the season.

and the guests sat with blankets. or warmed by the fire.
and it seemed every one knew it was the perfect kind of place for a wedding.

10.12.2012

the yellow chamisa is shining brightly right now. and it looks lovely against the gray green brown rock.

and we were rather thrilled when we realised we were being watched by bighorn sheep. a scattered herd of them. they would jump around the rocks, munch a little, and then watch us awhile.

it was a nice, long walk. down into the canyon and up to the rio pueblo.
at the bottom of the trail we sat at the water, and listened to the trees.
and on our walk up, we filled our pockets with rocks full of shiny mica or tiny, clear crystals.